Clint Barton
Skills During the early years of his life, Clint could not find confidence in any single skill. It was only at thirteen years old after he and his brother joined the circus when he began to realize his talents. Clint is a master archer with very keen eyesight. Having trained his hand-eye coordination to top notch condition and having been born with a natural understanding of angles, Clint has near-perfect precision, often putting it to the test by incorporating wind and ricochet into his daily training. He keeps himself constantly up to speed, training a bare minimum of two hours each day. Clint has strived to surpass the average marksman over the years, making use of a wide array of trick arrows, all of which he makes himself. He commonly carries smoke bomb, tear gas, cable, explosive, acid, suction cup, net, and sleeping gas arrow tips on his person. These tips are loaded into a custom quiver, which he can easily select and alter through controls directly on his bow. He can also fire multiple arrows at the same time, the highest number he has attempted so far being five. Although archery is his specialty and his preference on the battlefront, Clint is also very skilled with blades. He trained with Swordsman during his time at the circus and progressed very quickly, learning how to properly handle swords, daggers, throwing knives, and just about any other manmade bladed weapon. Due to his reflexes and his hand-eye coordination, both of which developed very quickly during his training, Clint is capable of mastering most types of weapons very quickly. He handles small firearms at a near-expert level, weapons which he has found himself making much more use of since becoming a SHIELD operative. Clint is quick on his feet and a very skilled acrobat, another useful addition to his skill set which his time in the circus made possible. Due to his time with SHIELD, he has also developed a great sense of strategy and has been known to gain the upper hand against enemies far superior to him by tricking them. Clint also has experience piloting aircrafts. Despite his most recent company before arriving in Pandora, Clint is completely human and has no superhuman abilities. While he is at the height of human condition due to years of intense training, he can be injured and grow ill just like any other person. He's tough in a fight, but, naturally, can only take so much damage. Personality Clint tends to give off a no nonsense first impression and comes off as a man married to his work when met under certain circumstances. A SHIELD Agent, when he is working a job, he does not allow for distractions. He is efficient and gets the job done, often times with no questions asked. Under most circumstances, he works alongside the don't ask, don't tell policy. The true fact of the matter is that Clint lives for adventures. He enjoys extreme danger and the thrill of fighting for his life. He loves a good challenge and strives for leadership qualities since he has been placed in such a position a number of times as an agent. During his early years, he was foolishly bold in the face of danger and had a tendency to leap into situations without thinking. He has since grown far more responsible, but when a dire situation comes up, he often finds himself reverting to the old ways, throwing out whatever rules and protocols which were meant to be kept in mind. Though Clint started out as a youthful teenager, eager to jump into the thrills of danger and bask in his own glory, the day he began to work more critical jobs such as assassinations was the day the cut throat warrior in him began to show. Though he can feel sympathy for others in certain situations, it isn't often Clint lets this phase him. He knows how to make the hard decisions and push others along, if need be, when they have been compromised. This, of course, does not mean that his emotions are impenetrable. He does care for others and while he has learned to keep a cool head when those individuals are in danger, it's possible to set him off, causing him to react violently. Although he comes off as all business when he is on the job, he does know how to crack a joke and lighten up. When he's not on the job, he relaxes significantly and the light-hearted youth in him shows through in full force via sarcasm, grins, and even light flirtation around women. Appearance Although his appearance is not his priority, Clint knows well how much fitness matters in his position. He works out a minimum of two hours daily, keeping himself in peak physical condition. He stands at the average height of 5'10" and is considerably light on his feet. His hair is a dusty shade of brown, cut short and neatly above the ear, and his eyes are light blue. In Pandora, he often finds himself dressed for the worst case scenario, wearing a dark and elaborate suit designed to work alongside his skill set. The most notable piece of the suit is his vest, dark blue and violet in color. The SHIELD logo sits on the right breast of the vest. When not donning his suit, Clint prefers to stick with dark colors. Relationships History Clinton Barton was born in Waverly, Iowa to Harold and Edith Barton. He was the couple's second son and grew close to his brother, Barney, very quickly. Growing up together in an abusive household, they had to endure the drunken wrath of their father and their mother's inability to care about. Fate, or perhaps justice as Clint sees now, reached them, however, and their perhaps were taken in a car accident caused by their alcoholic father. The boys were sent immediately to an orphanage. They stayed at that orphanage for six years before finally finding the courage to escape after Clint turned thirteen. Eventually, they came across a traveling circus. To the public, it was called the Circus of Delights or Tiboldt Circus, but Clint later found that their official team name was the Circus of Crime, something he would find to be a very fitting name for the group. Tired, hungry, and in desperate need of shelter, the brothers agreed to join the traveling circus as roustabouts. Both of the brothers found themselves fascinated by one of circus' star acts, Swordsman. Eventually, Swordsman asked the boys if they would be interested in helping out for his act. While Barney declined, Clint eagerly agreed to help him and soon after, Swordsman saw his potential and began to trade him in blade-work and knife throwing. He often acted a secondary performer in the Swordsman's act. The man went so far as to ask Trick Shot to train him in archery. That was the first time Clint got his hands on a bow. It had been made aware that the carnival paymaster had been robbed. Soon afterwards, Clint witnessed the Swordsman with a large sum of money. Realizing the conclusion Clint had come to, Swordsman offering him a split of the profit if he agreed to become his partner in crime. Clint refused and ran. He climbed the high wire only to have it cut by Swordsman and then came crashing to the ground. Severely injured, Swordsman was just about to kill the boy when Trick Shot intervened, knocking the man unconscious. Barney showed up, having witnessed most of the scene and then proceeded to abandon Clint for not taking up Swordsman's offer. Trick Shot took Clint home to let him heal and continue his training. Months of intense training passed before Trick Shot finally thought Clint was ready for the real world. Trick Shot decided that Clint would act as his partner during extortion schemes. For their very first exploit, he took Clint to a man called Marko, the very same man who had once loaned money to Swordsman. While trying to get the money from him, Trick Shot ended up killing Marko. The two archers fled the scene, but were attacked by of the bodyguards. Clint shot an arrow without thinking and struck one of the bodyguards in the heart, killing him. This bodyguard turned out to be his brother, Barney. Realizing what he had done, Clint suddenly turned on Trick Shot and the two fired at each other. Clint took a hit and was impaled against a tree, Trick Shot vowing to one day return and kill him. Clint spent some time laying low, recovering from his injury. It was then he began to work on his solo career, taking on jobs for bodyguards, private assassinations, or anything else he could get his hands on. It was some time later, Nick Fury came into contact with him, taking a special interest in his extraordinary skill set. Soon after, he began to work as a S.H.I.E.L.D operative. He was present the day the gods came down from their world, Asgard, and he was present when the tesseract was brought into S.H.I.E.L.D's hands. Eventually, a woman by the name of Natasha Romanoff, codename the Black Widow, fell under SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Due to his particular skill set, Clint was sent to kill her, but he made a different call. Not only was she allowed to live, but she was given the chance to work with SHIELD. The duo commonly worked together as very effective partners. SHIELD's situation became dire when the tesseract began to react, opening a portal through which Loki, the God of Mischief himself, passed through. With a desire for vengeance and the desperate need to rule, Loki stole the tesseract from them but not before taking Agent Barton's mind for his own. With the previously opened portal ready to collapse in on itself, they escaped, leaving the base to be leveled. Eighty men were known to have been killed that night. Clint spent his time under Loki's control gathering the supplies needed to open the portal again, eventually going so far as to infiltrate SHIELD. It was during this time, he found himself caught up in a fight with Natasha. She gained the upper hand and managed to knock him out. He awoke, strapped into a chair and fighting off Loki's control until he was finally able to flush him out. It was then Clint agreed to join the Avengers, suiting up and flying the group to the city where Loki planned to open the portal using the tesseract. He did just that, letting loose an army of Chitauri over New York. Clint took to the rooftop with his bow and arrows, plucking the aliens right out of the air. It was shortly after, though, that the black tendrils came for him, dragging him into Pandora. Pandora History